Frenchman fights off croc in Gove attack

Yoann Galeran was swimming out to fetch a dinghy close to the shore in the Gove harbour yesterday afternoon when he said he felt a heavy weight come up behind him.

Still shaken by the event, Yoann asked Arnhem Fisheries employer Lisa Heathcote speak on his behalf to ABC Darwin this morning.

"Our other deckie ran in saying 'Yo's been taken by a croc'," she told Julia Christensen on Breakfast radio.

"Immediately my partner thought he was dead, then we walked out on the back deck and Yo was standing there with a big grin on his face and blood all over him."

She said he had only been ten metres from the shore when he was attacked.

"He said he felt the weight of a wave or something pushing behind him then he felt the croc on his back.

"He said it felt like a rock pushing him down. The next thing it's got him by the head and rolled him down, but his instincts kicked in and he just punched it.

"(The croc) released him then it came back again, but he punched it and scrambled into the dinghy, pulled up the anchor, started the outboard and motored in shore."

The croc was estimated to be between 2 and 3 metres long, and matches similar sightings in the area over the past two weeks.

"It's lucky he's very well built and strong and managed to fight it off," Lisa said.

"There's been no trap set...but we are going to talk to Parks and Wildlife about it.

"I'm hoping something permanent is going to happen because this croc is pretty cheeky."

Lisa said the whole community of people who live on their boats in the Gove harbour and regularly access their dinghies by swimming short distances in the ocean would remain at risk if the croc is not removed.

"If that had have been me I wouldn't have had a chance."

Listen to Yoann describe the attack to Vicki Kerrigan by clicking play on the audio under the photos on this page.

Yoann was treated for puncture wounds to his neck but has not sustained any major injuries.